5 Huge UFC Stars Who Will Be Upset Victims in Their Next Fight

One of the most exciting things about MMA is its unpredictability.

Over the years we’ve seen fighters who we thought were unbeatable taken out in minutes—and as soon as that happens the entire landscape of the sport changes dramatically.

This isn’t the NFL, where a team can have a bad game and still win the Super Bowl; a loss in the UFC throws you to the back of the line and usually at least another year away from a title fight.

But 2011 has been pretty predictable thus far, and the best upset we’ve had is Tito Ortiz taking out Ryan Bader at UFC 132. The fight was awesome and it was a pleasant blast from the past to see Tito celebrating again, but it isn’t really the high-profile upset we’re used to.

But that can only last for so long, and with a ton of big fights on the horizon we’re bound to see some upsets in the next six months.

Cain Velasquez

He isn’t a huge favorite by any stretch, but Velasquez is going to be the fighter that most think will come out of the Octagon with a victory when the UFC makes its FOX debut next month.

However, Cain is in serious trouble against Junior dos Santos, and I think the fight is going to go “Cigano’s” way rather quickly.

Cain would be foolish to try to stand and trade with Dos Santos, and Junior has shown that he has decent takedown defense.

Dos Santos will finish Velasquez early in the second round, and yet another new heavyweight champion will be crowned.

Urijah Faber

For years Urijah Faber has been the poster boy for the lighter-weight fighters, and he is almost always expected to win when he steps in the Octagon.

At UFC 139, Faber will be looking for a win against Brian Bowles in order to earn a rubber match against Dominick Cruz.

Bowles is a much tougher opponent than most fans realize, though, and he’ll give Faber all that he can handle.

Faber has struggled with his wrestling since he dropped to 135 pounds, and if Bowles can keep the fight standing he will out-strike Faber and win a close decision. 

Brock Lesnar

While the fight with Alistair Overeem is a toss-up in the eyes of many MMA fans, the casual fan no doubt will be expecting Lesnar to win.

Brock is a most polarizing fighter in the sport and earns a massive amount of attention every time he fights, but the fact is that he is too one-dimensional to hang with the very best in the world.

Lesnar has one chance to land his patented double-leg takedown, and if he doesn’t get it, he’ll be getting hit in the face.

A lot.

Overeem only has to sprawl once to win this fight, and I think he does it, winning by a first-round TKO.

Jose Aldo

Aldo is currently ranked as one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in the world and has taken out pretty much everyone who has stepped in his way at featherweight.

But through all of his wins, he has never fought someone like Chad Mendes, who can take him down and hold him down.

Aldo uses his kicks more than most fighters to dictate the pace and rhythm of the fight, but he will be hesitant to throw them against a wrestler like Mendes, and while he is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, we’ve yet to see him fight very offensively off of his back.

Mendes will take out Aldo and win a nice clean unanimous decision.

Anderson Silva

Chael Sonnen has left Anderson Silva no choice but to fight him again, and it would be insane of Dana White to not make this fight happen.

Silva has looked incredible in nearly every single one of his UFC fights, but the one that sticks out is his UFC 117 title defense against Sonnen.

Sonnen dominated him for the better part of five rounds, only to get submitted at the end of the fight.

It seems incredibly unlikely that Sonnen will make the same mistake twice, and this time he is going to pull off the upset.

Chael Sonnen by decision.